Chapter 25

Having studied the Dao Ancestor's Taiji Fish for a long time, Li Youyi felt that this was the most important magic treasure to restrain the skeleton demon, so he used various methods to activate it.

First, he used a few drops of his own blood, then the blood of the Golden Crow and the Black Flood Dragon, but there was no reaction.

Injecting the scorching hot airflow born from the center of his right foot was like a stone sinking into the sea.

"To activate it, it must be related to my blood, and every time it's during a very dangerous moment. Could it be that when I encounter a life-threatening situation, the blood in my body becomes different?"

Besides that, it seemed that a lot of blood was needed.

The more blood, the more intense and lasting its movement.

Everything was speculation and analysis...

Li Youyi gritted his teeth and decided to do something stupid. So, he cut his wrist with a sword to soak the Dao Ancestor's Taiji Fish, releasing nearly half a bowl, but there was no reaction at all.

"Forget it, forget it... I'll wait until I encounter a life-and-death danger in the future to try again."

Li Youyi hurriedly mobilized the scorching hot airflow from the center of his right foot to stop the bleeding and heal the wound, wrapping his wrist. Afterwards, he picked up a cup of diluted Golden Crow blood on the table and drank it to replenish his blood energy.

With both hands forming the "Zi-Wu Taiji Seal," he performed the Jade Void Breathing Method, mobilizing the scorching hot airflow surging from the center of his right foot to circulate through the thirteen silver trace meridians, in order to refine the scorching secret energy contained in the Golden Crow blood.

In recent days, he had been drinking Golden Crow blood every day, and his physical strength had grown significantly.

Half an hour later, Li Youyi stopped.

"My physical body doesn't seem to have changed much... Before, when I drank Golden Crow blood, my whole body would heat up, and my heartbeat and blood flow speed would increase significantly."

"Let's try drinking another cup."

A few days ago, after drinking the first cup of Golden Crow blood, Li Youyi had lost his awe of it.

Because the scorching hot airflow in his body could refine it, and he didn't even need to wear the cross pendant on his body.

Cai Yutong had only drunk one cup and almost died from being burned. Fortunately, with the cross pendant, her body changed drastically, transforming as if she were a celestial spirit.

Li Youyi had drunk ten cups in total, but there were no signs of being burned, nor was there any shedding or transformation; only his physical strength had increased.

He didn't know whether to be depressed or fortunate.

After drinking the eleventh cup, he only felt the Golden Crow blood was as bland as water, and his body had no reaction.

"My physical body should have reached a critical point again, needing some kind of breakthrough to go further."

How could he break through?

The diluted Golden Crow blood was bland, what about the undiluted one? Could it bring enough intense stimulation?

Relying only on external objects, was there a chance to break through the critical point?

Say it and do it.

He could still give it a try now.

He couldn't wait for the skeleton demon to come and deal with him first; that would just be waiting for death.

Li Youyi drank a cup of undiluted Golden Crow blood. After it entered his abdomen, it became increasingly scorching, as if he had put magma into his body. He immediately performed the Jade Void Breathing Method, mobilizing the scorching hot airflow from the center of his right foot to refine it.

The thirteen silver trace meridians couldn't refine it at all; the Golden Crow blood seemed to want to burn through his internal organs.

His whole body was steaming, and his blood seemed to be boiling.

It was as if he could spit fire from his mouth.

"It's not that terrifying, I can still hold on."

The spring eye at the center of Li Youyi's right foot surged more and more intensely, fiercely confronting the Golden Crow blood.

Suddenly.

"Whoosh!"

A cold, bone-chilling cold air emerged from the center of his left foot.

Following that, the first silver trace meridian was born from the cold air spring eye, moving up along his left leg, straight toward his internal organs that were burning most unbearably.

The second silver trace meridian was born.

The third, the fourth...

Before long, the number of trace meridians born from the center of his left foot reached thirteen. Added to the thirteen trace meridians rooted in the center of his right foot, they reached as many as twenty-six.

The blood energy and destructive secret energy contained in the Golden Crow blood were instantly suppressed.

The right foot spring eye was scorching, the left foot spring eye was icy cold.

What was born were two completely different airflows.

Li Youyi's body changed rapidly between cold and hot; one moment, his whole body was dripping with hot sweat, the next moment the sweat beads froze into ice beads.

"It's too uncomfortable!"

He stopped breathing and exhaling, rushed out of the door, and crazily practiced the Twelve Scattered Hands of the Chan Gate on the deck.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

Sometimes forming palms, sometimes throwing punches.

The speed was extremely fast, and his figure changed unpredictably.

"Heaven-Turning Palm Seal."

He formed a palm seal, his figure sprang up a zhang high, and he descended from the sky.

The palm wind in front of the palm seal was in a condensed state, like a great seal turning the sky. His palm did not land directly on the tomb pile, but the tomb soil sank, forming a three-foot-square depression.

It was as if it had been pressed by a three-foot-large seal.

"Taiyi Sea-Opening."

The palm seal transformed into a palm knife.

The palm wind slashed out like an invisible blade, splitting the air in front.

"Yellow Dragon Ascending to Heaven."

He seemed to have transformed into a dragon, taking five steps in the air in succession, as if there were void stairs. With the fifth step, his body had already appeared at a height of eight or nine meters.

The Twelve Scattered Hands, Li Youyi had practiced on the mountain for many years.

Previously, he only thought of them as a method for strengthening the body, never thinking they would have such power.

When facing Xie Tianshu and others, he couldn't use these moves at all.

Although called "Scattered Hands," they were not all hand techniques, but a general martial arts manual of twelve moves created by gathering punches, palms, footwork, leg techniques, finger seals, claw imprints, etc.

They were not fixed forms.

Every move changed infinitely, following one's heart and will.

He didn't know how long he had been practicing; when the cold and heat in his body balanced and he stopped, the surroundings were already surrounded by research team members who had come upon hearing the sound.

Everyone's expressions were different; some were shocked, some were in awe, some were admiring, some were fanatical.

Of course, some speculated that Li Youyi had swallowed a Buddha relic, but they didn't dare to have any wild thoughts. Just the momentum of the fist practice just now—once Li Youyi got serious, he could probably punch through their chests with one blow.

They didn't know Li Youyi's situation and thought he was showing off his muscles to deter potential troublemakers.

Qin Ke walked up and wiped the sweat from Li Youyi's forehead: "Brother Youyi, you seem to have become even more powerful. Is it because you drank the Golden Crow blood?"

"Yes."

Li Youyi did not deny it.

He had originally intended to let everyone on the ship drink Golden Crow blood one after another to change their constitutions, thereby increasing their ability to survive in this strange world.

Cai Yutong's body transformation couldn't be hidden; according to her, rather than hiding it and letting everyone guess and create estrangement, it was better to inform them openly.

Qin Ke was full of expectation, but also a little uneasy, and asked: "Can I drink it too?"

"Of course."

Li Youyi added: "But we must wait for the First Mate to wake up first."

Four days ago, Zhao Meng's injuries worsened, and in desperation, Li Youyi gave him diluted Golden Crow blood and put the cross pendant on him.

But the effect of the Golden Crow blood was too slow, and Zhao Meng was on the verge of dying.

Li Youyi gave him Black Flood Dragon blood and put the dragon-patterned thumb ring on his finger.

Since then, Zhao Meng had been undergoing drastic changes every day.

This morning, his broken bone injuries on his knees and shoulders had completely recovered, and his physique had grown exaggeratedly to nearly three meters tall.

Fortunately, there was no terrifying flood-dragon-like deformity like Xie Tianshu's.

Only on his arms and legs had a small amount of black scales grown.

His hair had turned fire-red like Golden Crow feathers.

After the spring eye at the center of his left foot opened, Li Youyi's combat power increased greatly, and he finally had the confidence to meet the skeleton demon again.

The last time was too miserable!

Li Youyi wore corpse-skin leather armor, the Dao Ancestor's Taiji Fish around his neck, silver-thread gloves on his hands, a three-headed snake bracelet on his wrist, a scripture belt tied around his waist, a black iron seal and Golden Crow blood in his bosom, holding the Yellow Dragon Sword in one hand and a black long spear in the other.

Finding the black long spear too heavy and quite a burden, he threw it aside.

Arriving near the tomb where the skeleton demon was located, he took out the Golden Crow blood and poured it on the scripture belt to activate it.

Li Youyi's movement speed was rapid, like a blood-colored ghost, and he rushed onto the tomb pile with his sword. Standing at the edge of the hole he had dug himself at the top of the tomb pile, he looked down; the ice coffin had already melted.

Inside...

It was completely empty.

In an instant, Li Youyi's whole body went numb, and his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his body.

Had that skeleton demon already run out?

He immediately mobilized the two airflows of cold and heat to maximize all his perceptions, looking around in all directions to search, but found nothing. Even the bone wind chime on the tombstone had disappeared.

"Lying in the coffin unable to move, just using her hair, she was already terrifyingly abnormal. Now that she's out..."

Li Youyi found it hard to imagine how strong a skeleton demon that could move freely would be.

"Since she's out, Dr. Qi's disappearance might really be related to her."

After investigating around the tomb pile, Li Youyi found the footprints left by the skeleton demon and looked up into the nether fog.

It was the direction of the Golden Crow corpse.

"Since she attacked me and Dr. Qi one after another, she will definitely strike again. The reason why there hasn't been another victim yet is likely because there is some problem with her body, just like how she couldn't walk out of the tomb pile before."

"I can't let her continue to recover; by then, I'm afraid I won't have any power to fight back."

After thinking for a moment, Li Youyi finally believed that no matter how terrifying the skeleton demon was, he still had the power to fight now. If he retreated today because of fear, he would only be at her mercy in the future.

Following the footprints, Li Youyi arrived cautiously and prudently under the Golden Crow corpse.

He saw that red-clothed figure by the blood pool.

She sat cross-legged, golden light overflowing from her body, her black hair floating in the air like long silk threads, and on her back was a pair of flame light wings several meters long, very similar to the Golden Crow fire wings that appeared when Cai Yutong transformed into a celestial spirit, both gorgeous and bright.

Without any hesitation, Li Youyi increased his speed to the limit, reached a zhang behind her, sprang up, and slashed down with his sword.

"Whoosh!"

This sword was exactly the Taiyi Sea-Opening from the Twelve Scattered Hands.

With his whole body's strength poured in, the sword edge flashed with yellow light, splitting the air.

(End of chapter)